Two years ago I decided to leave my career as a mental health therapist and set out on a new journey. You could say I was extremely nervous to make such a big change but also so excited. I mean I had zero direction of where I wanted to go or what I wanted to do. Of course I had tossed around in my mind, did I want to continue providing therapy to others? Did I want to do something else? I really didn’t know. Something in my heart wanted a change but my logical thinking self had no idea where to begin.
This idea of change all started in December of 2016. After complaining about the frigid New England winters and discussing the impeding craziness of the holidays, my significant other and I came up with an idea. We thought, why don’t we just get away from NE winters and travel? Totally insane, right?
So, we made a plan to buy an RV and travel to various parts of the country to see if we might like to live somewhere else. My significant other worked online, so he was still able to work while we traveled. It sounded like the perfect “plan” to both of us. So, I did it. I took the leap of faith. With no other direction than that, I decided to put in my notice, leave my job, and just travel.
When I left my job, there were some people in my life that thought I was crazy. They didn’t understand how I could leave such a good job, why I would “throw away my education” and “not use my degree”. Their perspective was that I had a good stable job, I was close to family, and that I should be happy with that life. Traveling and living in an RV? Now that was even more absurd.
The truth was before I left, I was consistently feeling drained and tired. Every day I would come home from work and I could barely get up enough energy to cook myself dinner before crashing in front of the TV. Go to bed. Wake up. Repeat.
I would run in the mornings and hike on the weekends. I would get out and do things with my free time when I had it. I ate healthy and would get a reasonable amount of sleep each night. No matter what I did or tried, I was still always feeling drained.
I spent a lot my time at work, in an office. I would wake up before the sun and get home well after dark. I chose to work longer hours so I could actually make enough money to pay my bills. It was simply exhausting.
Once I left and we started to travel, it was nice to have a break and gave me time for self reflection. I was able to think about what I wanted to do, where I saw myself, what was important in life. I came to the conclusion that working day and night at an office job was not for me. I realized that I did not want to go back to it at all. So, I decided to help my significant other out with his online sales but I wanted more. I wanted to do my own thing. I wanted to have my own business.
After a little bit of searching, I found a direct sales company that seemed like a good place to start so I tried that for a few months. Unfortunately, I didn’t really feel like it was a good fit for me but after trying it, I found that I really liked the idea of direct sales. (Never in a million years did I think I would say that but it’s true). So, I found a different direct sales company that sells personalized jewelry and felt this was a much better match for me. They focus on empowering women to create their own life story. It was perfect. And because I love to cover all aspects of my life, I recently found a company in the healthy and wellness/skincare industry to add to my jewelry gig. They really focus on things being clean, safe for our bodies inside and out. Now I feel like all aspect of my life are complete with being able to work as an independent consultant and designer for these two companies. I get to work from home and be my own boss.
You know, I didn’t know at the time when I left my career, how much I needed that change and needed something in my life to be different. People tell me all the time now, “you look so happy”. You know what? They are right. I think leaving my office job and working from home has had a big impact on my overall mental health. Now, don’t think for a minute that living in an RV and being able to travel is always sunshine and rainbows. Trust me, it has its not so fun sides as well. I just think that decision that I made two years ago to go down a different path changed the way I think about everything. That experienced changed my mindset. I have to say it was the most freeing thing that I ever could have done.
Looking back, it seems like a world away. I do think back to my “old life” and how things are so drastically different all around. Working from home and being in charge of yourself every day is not for everyone, but it certainly is the best thing that has happened to me.